Family Time

We've had some pretty cool family times recently. Our one tonight was learning about how we all sin and how we all need Jesus. We used Brian's bee bee gun as an illustration and let the boys shoot cans and when they would miss we would yell, "Sin!" And then we explained to them how we all 'miss the target in life' when we disobey because our aim in life is to be like Jesus.

Then we all helped in folding clothes which they got a reward for when it was done and then we explained how just like we get rewards when we do good things we also get payments/consequences when we do bad things. Then we talked about how God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins to take away our punishment.

Not sure how much was retained but I was really trying to focus in on how there is nothing we can do to get to heaven and that all we need to do is believe in Jesus because I have sensed a 'works-driven heart' in Caleb. A few months ago one night I asked Caleb if mommy and daddy love him when he does bad things and he said no. It broke my heart. Since then we have talked quite a bit about how mommy and daddy love him no matter what just like God. And that there is nothing he could possibly do to take our love away or take God's love away. Praying that that truth would soak in his heart.

Brian was going to post about our last family time since he was in charge of that one but our camera was dead and I was disappointed we didn't get pictures of it. It was really cool. Brian got some rockets and shot them off with the boys in an open field and used that as an illustration about what our purpose in life is. He had some neat analogies like; the engine in the rocket makes the rocket take off just like the Holy Spirit in us helps us do good things. It was freakin' hot outside when we did it but man the boys loved every minute of that one. We even had an audience at one point watching our rockets take off.

C2

The boys are all about picking their own clothes nowadays and I have to say Christopher's outfits definitely express his personality...

C1 and C3

Caitlin adores her big brother Caleb. :o) They are so sweet together. He gets her out of her crib after her naps, she rests her head on his chest and they love playing together. But her relationship with Christopher is another story...the opposite of hers and Caleb's. And I don't blame her...if I had someone squeezing my head and talking in my face every time I saw 'em I would probably scream at the top of my lungs every time they got near me too.

Art class

The boys have taken a two week art class that ended today with an art exhibit showcasing their work. The theme was 'Africa' and all of their work was African inspired. My two favorites were the African masks and the clay huts that they got to fire in the 'den'. (They called it the den because they couldn't say 'kiln'.:o)

Brian taking Caitlin to the art show...

One of Caitlin's favorite snacks...

George Bush visited Mercy Street

What is Mercy Street? Mercy Sreet is a mentoring program that was started by a guy name Trey Hill (below in picture with his wife) 6 years ago. Trey and his family lived in Highland Park and decided to move to West Dallas to minister to kids in a poverty stricken community. He has 4 biological kids and has taken in 2 other kids from the community. I was at Mercy Sreet this past weekend on Saturday at their training day learning more about what it looks like to mentor. Wish I could of been there to meet GB!

First steps!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's about time! She is exactly 17 months today and decided today would be the first day she would attempt her first steps. And, of course, they were to her daddy:o) I wish I had a picture of it but it happened too fast but I'll do my best painting a picture....Her little body was shaking as she was slowly dragging one foot in front of the other. She didn't have confidence to actually pick up her foot and place it in front of the other so it was pretty funny watching her drag her feet. There were two steps and a big 'ol smile:o)

Visit with Robert

Tonight Brian's brother came to hang out and we had quite a few Wii challenges tonight:o)...

I really need to babyproof! This girl is into everything! Thank goodness she doesn't know how to open toilet lids!

Mooooooo

Well it is not beneath the Cole family to endure a little public humiliation for free food...

or our friends, the Hamiltons....

Happy cow day!:o)

Love this...

( I love this so much I wanted to post it...and I may be breaking some kind of blogging rule by posting someone else's words and thoughts but, oh well, I know I wouldn't have been able to state all this so eloquently and clearly:o)

Rick Warren (REMEMBER HE WROTE ' PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE' ) You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said," People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,’ which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.
I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72 First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor , care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD."

Christopher's memory

Woah. Brian and I had no idea how sharp C2's memory is! We played a memory game with the boys tonight and we were blown away with how he was able to recall the location of all the cards with only having seen it once. It was pretty incredible. He just kept pairin' 'em up one right after the other.
After our devotional about responsibilties/gifts the other day and how Christopher couldn't think of any of his, it was neat to see him get excited about this new gift he's discovered.
Also, we played as teams...Brian and Christopher and me and Caleb and it was so sweet how he was genuinely cheering on Caleb and excited for him when he got a match. Makes a moms' heart melt.

Happy Fourth of July!

We celebrated a fun, traditional, July 4th with my fam in Houston with BarBQ, swimming; and of course, fireworks:o) My parents cooked the brisket, ribs and sausge and was sooooooo good and Nancy made a yummy carrot cake...which Christopher called "the vegetable cake".

The fireworks were quite an experience. We saw them at my parents club and we have never been so close to where they shoot em off....maybe 3 tennis courts away and it was neat to watch them blast off into the air but I was a little freaked out with how 'right in our face' it seemed...not to mention watching the remnants fall in the trees and pool and thinking something was going to catch on fire.

Nowhere else she'd rather be...

Nancy making yummy Mojitos... Cute little Caitlin...

Boys fighting over glow sticks...

Mom feeding Caitlin a popscicle...Happy Fourth of July!